Conque’s Comments: SFA Returns to Homer Bryce for Homecoming 2017

THE KICKOFF
After an extremely difficult four-week stretch, one that involved three-straight games against nationally-ranked opponents, the Stephen F. Austin football team returns to Nacogdoches and the comforts of Homer Bryce Stadium for Homecoming 2017, presented by Nacogdoches Memorial Health. The Lumberjacks will welcome Houston Baptist University for a 3 p.m. Southland Conference matchup that pits two teams looking to snap losing streaks. It will be the first home game for SFA since hosting No. 25 McNeese on Sept. 30. The homecoming contest is the lone game played in Nacogdoches in the month of October and marks the second to last home game of the season for the 'Jacks.

FOLLOWING THE LUMBERJACKS
Saturday's game versus Houston Baptist will be streamed live online at ESPN3, available at ESPN3.com or through the ESPN app on mobile devices. Rob Meyers, the voice of the Lumberjacks, will call the game along with color commentator Kevin Langford on Q107.7 FM, available online at Q1077.com as well as through the Lumberjack Sports Network on the TuneIn app. Live stats will be available at SFAJacks.com, complemented by Twitter updates from @SFA_Football.

ABOUT THE GAME
For just the second time in SFA's 91-year football history, Houston Baptist will visit Nacogdoches as the two teams will meet for the fourth time. After playing three consecutive games against nationally-ranked opponents for the first time since 2013, the 'Jacks will take on an opponent with a losing record for just the third time this season. SFA went 2-0 in the previous two contests - at home versus Incarnate Word (37-31) and at Abilene Christian (20-10). The last month has been the most challenging for the 'Jacks in many different aspects. With two long-distance road trips, two games against top-10 teams and a home game against a top-25 team, SFA is looking forward to hosting a non-ranked opponent on its home turf. The 'Jacks went 1-3 during that span but have now completed the most difficult part of their schedule. The four-game gauntlet got started with a 728-mile round trip to Abilene, Texas, followed by a home contest against 25th-ranked McNeese and the 92nd Battle of the Piney Woods at NRG Stadium in Houston versus No. 11 Sam Houston State, before wrapping up with a 642-mile round trip to Conway, Arkansas, to face the sixth-ranked Bears of Central Arkansas. The Huskies enter Saturday's Southland matchup on a four-game slide after winning their second game of the season. Nacogdoches Memorial Health will serve as the presenting game sponsor.

Head Coach Clint Conque's Comments

Opening statement
"We certainly had our opportunities up in Conway this weekend. I thought our young men played extremely hard, tremendous effort. A very quality opponent in Central Arkansas, ranked in the top 10. We did some really good things, obviously, got ourselves in the hunt and got a late fourth-quarter lead but were unable to take advantage of some earlier opportunities. We traded some field goals for touchdowns against an explosive football team that's playing with a lot of confidence, very good on both sides of the ball and the kicking game. You hope it doesn't come back, but for the second consecutive week not being able to score touchdowns in the red area really hurt us. I think defensively we continue to make improvements. I think we are getting more comfortable with our scheme, playing with a lot more confidence there. We created three turnovers. The big one was the (Alize) Ward interception in the end zone to stop a drive. One of the things that continue to hurt us throughout the year is giving up big plays. Some poor angles, poor tackling, leverage and space. They were able to get two or three really big plays because of angles, tackles and leverage. Then we got beat in a couple of one-on-one situations, which was disappointing. Again, a very prolific offense. Two weeks in a row that we have held two top-10 teams defensively in the 20's. Offensively, I thought we were able to generate a running game. I thank our offensive line, tight ends, and some perimeter blocking. (Kijana) Amous had a very nice night, 140+ yards rushing. We struggled at protecting the quarterback, that hurt us, especially in those obvious passing downs. You got to give those guys credit, they bring in that rabid group or that specialty group and play a lot of man and two-man, and those kind of things really heated us up."

"Some dropped balls plagued us, just inconsistent. You would like to think twenty points is enough, but against a really good football team that's not going to be the case most weeks. I loved our effort. I think we are improving in a lot of ways, its consistency. You got to earn your way over the hump. A lot of anger, a lot of frustration and I get it, coaches and players. Now we have got to come together and funnel that in the right direction. For the first time this year, we had a couple of special team breakdowns, missed a short field goal that would have given us the lead. We came back and made one late with about three minutes to go to take the lead. Then we had a sixty-yard kickoff return right after that, those kinds of things hurt you. We turn the page and we move on to a much-improved Houston Baptist football team."

On the defensive play as of late and six combined takeaways the last two games
"I think it comes with confidence and understanding your responsibilities. We have been implementing a new scheme, new terminology, new coverage's, and new fronts, those types of things. I think what we are seeing is guys in better spots. We are more disciplined with our eyes. I think we are playing really hard as a team and we are playing really hard on defense. The flipside of that is they are giving us those turnovers and we are getting field position and stopping drives, but we are just being really inconsistent right now offensively with some decision making and some of those things. Again, having to kick a lot of field goals instead of getting touchdowns against any team, but specifically against prolific offenses like the ones we have faced the past two weeks, you're excited that you got points but your cringing a little bit because you know it could come back and the last two weeks that's exactly what happened."

On Jake Blumrick's toughness and improvement over the last few weeks
"Yeah, we have played two very good defenses the last two weeks, particularly those fronts. Those guys are very active and very athletic, going back really three weeks to McNeese. We have seen a growth in Jake. I think he is settling in now and understanding a little bit more as we talk during the game and after the game. Everybody is going to make mistakes but it's those four or five situations that happen throughout the game where it's situational football. It's fourth down early in the game, I'm in the absolute no-win zone there on the thirty-yard line. Forty-seven-yard field goal with a little bit of a breeze, you don't want to punt it so we go for it. We get some pressure and we end up taking a fifteen-yard sack versus throwing it away or keeping his eyes down field. He is going to learn from that and he has gotten better, there's no question. What has been very impressive to me is his toughness and then, certainly, he brings us a little bit of dimension running the football. I know he was sacked quite a bit and gave up some negative yards but I think he turned out with positive yards rushing because of what he was doing with his feet and the quarterback run game and scrambling and those kinds of things. We just got to keep working with him, keep getting him better. We did have a couple of drops on the outside that were significant. When you have a young player there with the people around him, the line and the receivers, it's my responsibility to make sure we get in those situations and that we can make those plays. Right now it's his team and he understands that, everything he does well is very positive for us. The areas that he needs to improve upon I think he clearly recognizes, he needs to be more consistent and the receivers and the O-line, everybody. To be able to create the run game we did was very positive and takes a lot of pressure off of him and that position in general. I know one thing; nobody is going to question his toughness because he is a tough dude."

On Kijana Amous' 142 rushing yards and the running game
"I think it was Kijana's second career 100-yard game since he has been here. The offensive line gave him some creases. I really like our running back crew, they run really hard and they show up to practice every day. It's very important to them. Jamall Shaw had given us a nice run down to the red area for about thirteen or fourteen yards but Kijana had the hot hand and we rode the hot hand. He just runs so hard. I teased him after one of his 30 or 40-yard runs that if he had taken another step it might have been two touchdowns because he had two long runs. Kijana is just a guy that shows up to work every day. He is catching the ball extremely well out of the backfield. We put him in some pretty difficult situations in pass protection Saturday, which we don't want to do, but he is a team guy and shows up for work every day and gave us some explosive plays out of the backfield, both running the ball, obviously, and then catching the ball out of the backfield."

On the focus and mindset heading into the game with Houston Baptist
"We are certainly ready to be playing back at home again. This has been a really tough four-week stretch, not just the quality of the opponents but we had 13-hour round trip to Abilene, a 12-hour plus round trip to Conway, a very talented McNeese team, which was our only home game, and then of course playing down at NRG in the Battle of the Piney Woods game. It has been physically and emotionally a very tough month on our players. In fact, we backed off on them a little bit last night physically and then today is their traditional day off. We are excited to be playing at home, it's homecoming, there are some distractions that come with that. As I mentioned earlier, Saturday night was the first time I have seen that type of emotion out of our team after the game because they could see victory, they could taste victory, they had that opportunity in the last three or four minutes in that football game in all three phases. We didn't play well enough to finish the deal. We got to give those other guys credit. Again, when you are playing with a lot of confidence you know that kick returner wasn't looking for a touchback. He wanted the ball. That fifth-year senior receiver and that fifth-year senior quarterback were hoping that they would call that play. Confidence and momentum has so much to do with any team sport or individual sport for that matter. We do take from these last couple of weeks a lot of confidence in a lot of areas. I would be sitting here lying to you if I told you we weren't frustrated. We just played two top-10 teams off their feet and put ourselves in a position to win both of them and came up just short, basically on the road. So we have proven that we can play at a very high level, but it's how we come back now and funnel that energy. Focusing on ourselves number one and then number two, our opponent, which is Houston Baptist."

"Coach [Vic] Shealy has been there for five years. It's interesting because there are about eight names or ten names in that starting offense and defense, maybe more, that you have seen on that two-deep roster for the last four years and now they are seniors. (Garrett) Dolan being one of the great linebackers we have in this conference and across the country. It's throughout their roster. A very experienced team and they are much improved. Very good on defense, I think they are third or fourth in the conference in total defense. That is going to be a challenge for our offense, which is somewhat inconsistent right now. They are going through some growing pains I believe at quarterback. They have a redshirt freshman and a true freshman, but their backs run really hard. All of those linemen have been there for three or four years it seems like. I do like their wide receivers; they are really good route runners they have some nice bodies out there. It's going to be an enormous challenge, these guys got after us last year down in Houston. We are excited to be at home, it's homecoming. We hopefully can put a great week of practice together, and then maybe get this team on a little bit of a run. We have got a formidable opponent this week, there is no question about it."

-SFA-

Photo by: SFA Athletics

Conque’s Comments: SFA Returns to Homer Bryce for Homecoming 2017

10/19/2017 5:36:00 PM | Football

SFA head coach Clint Conque talks about last weekend’s narrow loss at sixth-ranked Central Arkansas and previews the Lumberjacks’ homecoming matchup with Houston Baptist

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations